Alaric - Alaric (20 Buck Spin)

The Manchester Factory Scene is not dead! It lives on in Alaric! If you are looking for a retro punk goth sound but want new and original music, Alaric is your band.

Release Date:

11 Oct 2011 (All day)

Alaric's debut album simply titled Alaric is a lovingly textured tribute to the 80s goth, waver music sound. It hearkens to Christian Death, Fields of the Nephilim, Joy Division and Killing Joke. If this album sounds polished and uber professional, consider this; the lineup consists of former and current members of Dead & Gone and UK Subs.

Eyes opens the disk and sets the dark and sombre tone. It evokes horror movie themes and stuff nightmares are made of. The second track Ugly Crowds begins with moody drop tuning and then the guitars screech in and out weaving a black tapestry. The production is ethereal and the subject matter brooding and dark.

Your God is a mesmerizing, head-banging track that is worthy of some old style pogo action. The track transports you back to the Factory, Manchester sound of the 80s. It's bleak. It's danceable. It's dark.

Laughter of the Crows is dreamy and dark. It sucks you into a deep chasm of despair and sadness. Five minutes into the song and you are whipped into a Dervish frenzy only to collapse exhausted into a heap. There are shades of Pink Floyd's The Wall here. Have I mentioned the dark and broody nature of this disk?

Animal is an amazing track. It's danceable, singable, pogo-able. It's everything you like about goth punk music and more. The drums are bombastic. The guitars are a blaring wall of sound. The chorus is catchy and you will find yourself singing it long after you put the disk away.

I found the entire disk to be one gem after another. It literally sucks you in and spits you out.